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Fallon Fundamentally Transforms Tonight Show

The Tonight Show was a part of my upbringing.  My father watched it every night.  It was a special privilege to watch it with him when I didn't have school the next day.  I actually remember Jack Paar and of course Johnny Carson.  I was never a big fan of Conan and though Leno did a great job, I stopped staying up late to watch him.

But in his last week on the Tonight Show I watched Jay Leno say goodbye.  And I watched him introduce Jimmy Fallon.  Even before the announcement was made that Fallon would follow Leno as the host of the program I had seen Fallon on his own show.  It was and is my opinion that he is incredibly talented, engaging and of course very funny.  So I watched with great anticipation as his first appearance as host of the Tonight Show debuted.  I was very disappointed.

No doubt landing that job is a great accomplishment and he had every right to celebrate it with his new audience in New York and across the nation.  But Fallon made a terrible mistake.  He made the show about him.

The Tonight Show has always been about the guests.  It is the place to showcase the talent of the guests and to make them look good.  Fallon couldn't help himself in his interview with Will Smith for example and stepped all over Smith's lines and acted up behind the desk as if people were tuning into the Jimmy Fallon show.  I wasn't.  I was tuned in to watch a new host of the Tonight Show, and I expected a gracious host who had the good sense to let his guests shine and to provide support, play straight man, add the occasional funny quip then back off and let the show be the show.  Fallon made it all about Jimmy.

I know it's an huge gold star for Jimmy Fallon to be the new host of the most revered tradition in all late night television, but even the name change is telling.  No longer is it "The Tonight Show WITH Jay Leno", it is now "The Tonight Show STARRING Jimmy Fallon".  In other-words they made Fallon the star of the show.  That is a fundamental transformation and it was evident last night.

I'd prefer that Fallon go back to what made Carson great, but then again I'm from an older generation and admittedly I don't stay up to watch anymore.  I suspect that the executives at NBC have calculated that they need a new younger audience tuning in to see a personality every night rather than a parade of notables and stars.  Okay, it's their network and they are the ones taking the gamble.

But as for me, I think that if I can't quite get to sleep and need to turn on the tube after 11:30 I'm heading over to watch Jimmy Kimmel.  And I'll bet the ratings show something very similar as soon as the shine wears off the new penny at NBC.  Unless, that is, Fallon honors the tradition as much as he says he does and makes the show about his guests and not about him.

Thomas Massie's Goose Egg Cost America A Bunch

Here's what you get when a bunch of angry neophytes get elected to Congress with the help of anarchists and think that their only job is to throw a wrench in the gears of government as they act out their temper tantrums to the delight of a news media which is using their antics to splinter the GOP and help Obama.

The recent government shutdown and confrontation over the federal debt ceiling gained the Republicans nothing, at best – and may have cost them politically as a party. But it slowed the economy and undermined confidence in public finances in a way that will have a significant negative impact on future budgets of the United States. None of this should make for an appealing strategy, but Tea Party Republicans are giving every indication that they want to do the same thing again early next year. Their more moderate colleagues need to take a firmer hand.

On the political gains from recent tactics, it is hard to find any good news for the Republican side as a whole. Representative Thomas H. Massie, Republican of Kentucky, got it right when he said, “Goose egg, nothing, we got nothing,” in terms of policy changes. And opinion polls moved more sharply against Republicans than some had expected.

The shutdown and debt ceiling brinkmanship did real damage to the economy. The immediate and direct costs are nicely summarized in a blog post by James H. Stock – an academic economist on the president’s Council of Economic Advisers. His assessment is that the effect is a

0.25 percentage point reduction in the annualized G.D.P. growth rate in the fourth quarter and a reduction of about 120,000 private sector jobs in the first two weeks of October (estimates use indicators available through Oct. 12th).

Members of the Tea Party movement express concern about the longer-run federal budget – and the potential negative impact of future debt levels. But their tactics are directly worsening the budget over exactly the time horizon that they say they care about.

The major long-term issue the United States faces is rising health-care costs (not just the part that the federal government pays for), but an important part of our projected future deficits is interest costs, i.e., what the government needs to pay holders of its debt.

The United States dollar is the world’s primary reserve currency and safe haven; the asset that major investors, such as central banks and big international companies, actually buy is United States Treasury debt. In the short term, when Congress acts in a crazy and irresponsible fashion that makes the world feel more unstable, investors “seek safety” and actually buy American government debt, pushing down yields (bond prices and yields move inversely to each other).

Over a longer period of time, of course, investors get the message: United States Treasury debt is not so safe and cannot be trusted as in the past. They should look for alternative assets. The euro may bounce back. The British pound, Swiss franc and Japanese yen have all been contenders in the past. And the most real threat over the next 20 years is probably the rising international role of China’s renminbi.

In the American system, with its carefully conceived checks and balances, an organized and well-funded minority can do a lot more damage – as we have just been reminded. The only force that can rein in Tea Party extremism – and get the nation off the road to fiscal ruin – is resurgence among Republican moderates. [NY Times]

It is clear that reckless behavior like that of Massie, Amash, Cruz and others is doing harm to the United States.  Oh it might make you feel good to hear somebody echo your disdain for Congress, but in the end, which is better for you, a doctor who tells you what you want to hear or one with the skill and commitment to do what is required in order to save your life?

Ultra High Resolution TV's Coming, Hilarious Video Below

Ultra high resolution televisions are hitting the market.  Thanks to the good folks at Gateway Pundit blog I've seen the hilarious video below demonstrating how realistic the screens must be.  Watch these people confuse the screen with a window.  Enjoy.

 

Crazy Conspiracy Theory Of A Terrorist Becoming President Is BACK!

Here it comes, the show that plays the crazy conspiracy theorists like a harp is back for season three.  Episode 1 airs September 29th.

Public Airwaves About To End?

The only reason that CBS, NBC and ABC continue to show such wide acceptance in America is because the content is free to anybody with an antennae.  The same is true with talk radio, and music radio.  And the same can be said for the circulation claims of small underground newspapers.  Free has its benefits.

For example, if you print 10,000 copies of your little newspaper each week and give them away, you can claim a "circulation" of 43,000 per month.  That's a pretty big number when you consider what that would allow you to charge advertisers for page after page of teeny little ads.

The same holds true for the broadcast stations.  They sell advertising minutes based upon "reach".  The whole notion of advertising, from the sellers point of view, is telling advertisers how many "people" they can spread the message among.  So if you want to buy ad time on a TV station in Louisville, you pay for the size of the audience within the broadcast area.  Of course if you are selling Mercedes they won't tell you how many of that potential audience will be children, empty houses, second TV sets left on in another room or how few people watching at any given minute the ad airs would even be a Mercedes customer.

Free has it's advantages.

But that may all be about to change.

It started even before the relatively new digital broadcast which requires a converter box in order to un-encrypt the signal that your old rabbit ears used to pick up.

Cable and satellite television were the new inventions and everybody rushed to them.  But now, as I predicted for you some time ago, everything is moving to the Internet and more importantly, to portable devices.

A good friend of mine who has become very successful, makes his living as a podcasting coach.  I have to admit, I don't listen to podcasts, but they are a popular way of getting the specific kind of content you want, on demand, and on your portable device.

Glenn Beck kinda sorta understood this, but even he is still trying to get back on cable because of the size of the audience compared to his Internet only venture.

However, with some recent rulings by Federal Courts of Appeals, what used to be free and only available on your TV set may soon be coming to a portable device near you.

A start up company called Aereo has for the time being at least, been cleared to receive and then rebroadcast network TV programming to subscribing customers via the Internet.  Other rulings have said that receiving and recording and rebroadcasting some programs may also be permissible.

In other words, as more and more people are moving away from the networks to the Internet, the first ones to take control over the new delivery system could force the networks to start charging for content.  And once that happens their dominance will fade.

Things are changing fast in the world of information delivery and I am very thankful for the skyrocketing readership of this site as we continue to move ahead.

Stay tuned.

Nik Wallenda's High Wire Walk Over Grand Canyon, Stopped Hearts, Changed Hearts

On Sunday June 23d 2013 seventh generation high wire operator Nik Wallenda walked across a two inch cable strung between two cliffs 1500 feet above the floor of the Grand Canyon without a net, without a tether, holding a long balance pole in his hands all the while repeating that God was holding Nik in his hands.

The live performance broadcast on the Discovery Channel was not only death defying, but heart stopping.  As Wallenda placed one foot in front of the other, wearing special shoes hand made by his mother, he found the cable slick from dust and swaying from winds that gusted over 30 mile per hour.

The first part of the walk was down the slope of the cable, over metal fasteners which held pendulums and weather units below him.  He described the scene in front of his eyes as an optical illusion: the cable swaying side to side and bouncing from his gate, the pendulums swaying counter to the cable helping to balance it stood out against the craggy face of the cliff ahead and the ground below making it hard to see where to put his foot.

As the world watched this high wire act palms sweated, hearts alternately race and stopped and everyone gasped when he knelt down twice to slow the bounce caused by his stride.

But more important than his successful crossing and the anxiety filled hour for those watching at home, was the constant words of praise spoken by Wallenda as he made his way high over the rocky world below.

"Thank You Jesus" he said repeatedly, calling upon God to still the winds, calm the cable, prayers of thanks for the opportunity, for his life, for his family, for the beauty of the world, but over and over repeating that his crossing was due to God carrying Nik Wallenda in his hands.

Wallenda is a seventh generation performer, part of the famed "Flying Wallenda" high wire acts that have thrilled the world for decades.  And in his mind was no doubt the death of his great grandfather, Karl Wallenda captured on film as he tried to cross between two hotels in Puerto Rico in 1978 at the age of 73.  Bad rigging and high winds caused the senior Wallenda to drop to his knees, much like Nik did twice during the canyon crossing, but Karl was unable to keep his balance and fell to his death.

Other Wallenda tragedies over the years were notable as well, but Nik, his wife, his father and mother all made it perfectly clear, this is what they do, it's in their blood, they are performers, they know the risks, but they train and engineer the stunts to eliminate as much risk as possible.

It was truly an amazing night and as Nik began his climb up the final slope of the cable to the land on the other side, as soon as he knew he was close to the finish he ran the last several steps before climbing down and kissing the ground, his wife and children.

If you haven't seen the stunt, you ought to watch it.  The camera work, and the beauty of the scenery are mesmerizing, and that's while sitting on a solid piece of furniture.  Imagine what it was like 1500 feet up in the air on a 2 inch cable!

Once Again I Was Ahead Of The Big Boys

POLITICO today has a story under this headline "Obama's Lincoln Delusion".  Here's the first line: "When Barack Obama announced his presidential campaign back in February 2007, he did it in front of the old Springfield, Ill., statehouse in a speech full of references to Abraham Lincoln."

The story goes on to say how out of touch Obama is with Lincoln's philosophy and method of governance while acknowledging that Obama seems to be fascinated with the image of Lincoln, often drawing parallels between himself and the 16th president.

Now I'm glad that POLITICO and writer Rich Lowery have come around to see this weird mimicry but I'd like to remind you that you heard it here first.

Personally the parallels concern me not because Obama could ever credibly claim to be as great a man as Lincoln, but because Obama in the eyes of many represents a man who is downtrodden, subjected to racist hatred, and for many is already a martyr.

Pray for his safety.  As tensions increase in America this summer we need to be aware that not everybody out there is non-violent.

 

***SPECIAL REPORT*** Manhunt In Boston Raises Questions For All Our Protection

I have 33 years experience as a lawyer and over 40 years of experience in political science.  I have spent the better part of the last decade making a careful study of politicians, news and information delivery systems.  I question everything, I am trained to value hard evidence above opinion and I am a cynic.

The story about the Boston bombing suspects and the manhunt for them is riddled with holes.  The evidence of their guilt requires that each of us accept the narrative of the FBI and the single item of proof that law enforcement says they have which is the smoking gun, is the only item of proof they have never shown to anyone.

Are they guilty?  Did they do the bombing?  Were they the ones involved in a firefight with police just after midnight?  I don't know.  But one thing I do know is this.  I've seen no proof other than the results, heard from no eye witness nor seen anybody who was involved in the firefight answer a single question.

So what DO we know?

Let me remind you that I am a lawyer.  In my world allegations are not proof, hearsay is unreliable and opinions are like belly buttons, everybody has one.

The facts are these

On Monday, just before 3 pm near the finish line of the Boston Marathon an explosion occurred.  Seconds later another explosion occurred a few yards away.  The explosions claimed the lives of three innocent people and maimed and grievously injured over 150  more.  Immediately the hunt for the perpetrators began.  Police made it very clear, the FBI was in charge of the investigation.

Civilians, and perhaps the FBI itself, began circulating photos on the Internet hoping someone would identify the bombers.  Soon word came that the bombs were improvised explosive devices (IED) made using ball bearings, nails and other items as shrapnel, contained in a common pressure cooker inside of which some sort of pipe bomb had been detonated.

Suspects were said to have probably carried the bomb to the final location in a backpack.  Pieces of a backpack were photographed and circulated.

By Thursday the FBI said it had isolated the two men responsible, called them "suspects" and displayed their photos at a press conference, asking the public to help locate them.  They didn't have their names at first, they said.

Sometime after midnight Thursday a convenience store was robbed.  A campus police officer responding to the robbery was found shot to death in his car.  Police responded to the convenience store, obtained its surveillance video and on it say they found a still image of one of the suspects in the bombing.  Police have said that the suspects in the bombing are not implicated in the armed robbery.

A man, which as far as I can tell has never appeared on camera, says that same night at about the same time as the robbery his car was hijacked at knife point.  He is reported to have said that he was able to escape, went to the store that had just been robbed and had them call the police.

Police say that they then responded to his report of a hijacking, and maybe the robbery, and that the man  identified the two bombing suspects as the ones who had hijacked his car.

Police report that during a car chase a fire fight broke out with over 200 rounds being fired.  A local resident caught some of this on a cell phone recording.

Police say that they encountered IED's during the firefight and reported that the vehicle they were chasing ran over one of the suspects (the older one) who was found dead in the road.  Police say the vehicle escaped, was abandoned and the other suspect fled on foot.

Immediately a large scale police effort was launched using SWAT teams from many other locations, state police, National Guard and bus loads of law enforcement officers traveling with placarded buses to big staging areas.

The press was moved back beyond a perimeter of several blocks, if not miles in some cases.  A "suggested" order was issued for residents to "shelter in place".  In other words, no one was to leave their homes.

Over the course of the day a joint exercise of many different police and security agencies worked in a coordinated plan to sweep the town, conduct "permissive" searches and residents were encouraged to only open their doors for uniformed, credentialed police.

The media was fully engaged all day long in keeping this story in front of the nation.

A number of emergency vehicles scrambled around the town sirens blaring.  Armored vehicles rolled down quiet streets with armored men clinging to the sides.  Officers with bullet proof vests, tactical helmets, night vision goggles and fully automatic weapons surrounded various buildings, entered some, removed some residents under apparent compliance, removed some pets and were filmed doing all of this, despite the press perimeter.

Then, just before sunset, officials held another press conference.  The Governor of Massachusetts rescinded the "shelter in place" order.  The commander of the state police urged caution but admitted that law enforcement had learned very little, at least regarding the whereabouts of the 19 year old suspect, from the days events.

A morgue shot of the one dead suspect was circulated on the Internet.  His wounds are horrific.

The aunt of the suspects gave an interview.  She said that her nephews were being framed.  The boys father gave an interview, he said they were good boys and were being set up.  A college friend was interviewed and said the suspect he knew was a smart, nice guy with no political leanings at all.  He said that he doesn't believe the claims that the man is a terrorist.

A sister was interviewed.  She said that both men were fine people, not connected to terrorism at all and that there must be some big mistake.

Then late this after noon, Investors Business Daily, carried a story saying that the one suspect, the dead one, had been under FBI surveillance for five years.  His mother was quoted as follows:

"He was controlled by the FBI, like for three, five years," she said. "They knew what my son was doing, they knew what actions and what sites on the Internet he was going [to], they used to come...and talk to me...they were telling me that he was really a serious leader and they were afraid of him." 

"How could this happen?...They were controlling every step of him, and they are telling today that this is a terrorist attack," she added.

Some say, though it's not been proven, that one of the suspects had a Youtube channel with Jihadist videos.  Some are parsing Tweets from what they are claiming is the Twitter account of one suspect, suggesting that his words are wickedly evil, words written after the original bombings like "stay safe my friends".

Tonight police report that the second suspect has been taken into custody, found injured in a boat, perhaps talked into surrender by a negotiator.

These are the things that we know, or at least that we have been told.

Now I have a few questions.  Don't get me wrong, it's not that I disbelieve law enforcement.  I'm not accusing anybody of any wrong doing.  I'm not anti-government.  I am not a conspiracy nut.  I am a man who prefers to make my decisions on facts that I can judge for myself, rather than accepting as Gospel what others tell me, that's all.

So here is what I'd like to see.

I'd like to see the video that the FBI says it has showing the suspects, or one of them, placing a backpack on the ground at the spot where the explosion occurred and walking away.  That is the key piece of evidence that they say separated these two guys from the rest of the thousands of other people in the crowd, some of whom had backpacks.  If you have it, show me.

Second, I'd like to hear from the guy who was car jacked.  I'd like to hear how he was car jacked at knife point, how he identified the two men, what they were carrying and how he escaped.  Bombs, IED's, home made grenades, pipe bombs, rifles, ammunition and all that other stuff is bulky and weighs alot.  I'd like to hear him describe the incident.

I'd like to see the surveillance video from the store that was robbed and see the time stamp on the photo of the younger suspect that is apparently the subject of the manhunt.  I want to know who robbed the store.

I would like to hear from any eyewitness to the fire fight that ended up with one of the suspects dead.  I want to know who identified the suspects and how, before one of them was found dead.

I'd like to know how far from the firefight the vehicle used to get away was found after they allege that the suspect which is the subject of the manhunt, fled on foot.

I'd like a straight answer (and testimony under oath at some point) from an official regarding the mother's allegations that the FBI "owned" her son, the dead one, for the last five years.

I'd like to have sworn testimony that no other unexploded IED's or bombs were found in Boston on Monday.

I'm might have other questions after these, but for now, I am stunned that no news reporter has demanded to see the video of the suspects sitting down the backpack that exploded which is the sole reason given for why these two guys are the "only suspects".  Seems like a reasonable request to me. 

We might get these answers now that the second suspect is in custody.  That is if he survives his injuries, and ever talks.  And why do we need these answers?

Because what we were told was used as a reason to kill an American citizen, on American soil.  It was cited as the reason for engaging in a martial law drill a "shelter in place" event, until dark that is.

And since the media has been wall to wall with the entire story all day and largely responsible (as Mike Tobin at FoxNews admitted) for being used by the police as "a mechanism to tell people to stay in their houses", one would think that a responsible journalist would at least want to show the public that they were not "played" by the FBI.  That video of the suspects setting down a backpack that later exploded would go a long way to establishing credibility for all involved.  It would even quiet some of the conspiracy nuts.

Once again, I'm not defending these guys, I'm not accusing law enforcement of any wrongdoing and I'm not saying that I don't believe good, hard working people who stand in front of cameras and tell me stuff.

But I have been around a long time.  I've seen more than my share of witness accounts that turned out to be wrong.  I've seen plenty of people lie on purpose and some people tell things that aren't just quite true because of bias, lack of perspective, wishful thinking, inattention and confusion.

We've all heard of the "fog of war".  All I want is a breath of fresh air, a clear view and transparency.

The death sentence requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.  Since they've chosen to try this case in the court of public opinion, I think we deserve nothing less. 

If they try the remaining case in a court of law, then perhaps we will see the evidence and know the truth.  But that might be a long time from now.  I think we deserve some proof, now.

Why do I ask for these things? It's for all our protection.

New Series On CMT April 21st: "Guntucky"

A new television series will begin airing on CMT starting April 21st and it's called "Guntucky."  It is being billed as follows:

The new 10-episode series GUNTUCKY follows the three generations of the Sumner family who run Knob Creek Gun Range, their family owned business in Knob Creek, Ky. At Knob Creek Gun Range, it's up to the Sumner family to keep things running smoothly as customers use, try out, purchase and sell weapons across a broad spectrum of firearms - from cannons to machine guns. The family will also create shooting scenarios for their guests, hunting down rare and hard to find firearms for anything from a Civil War reenactment to a movie-style mobster scene. Things get crazy when customers get to blow up whatever they can physically bring to the range.

GUNTUCKY premieres Sunday, April 21 at 9:30 p.m., ET/PT.

[CMT  Press]

And of course you can expect the program to show Kentuckians as civic minded, contemplative, hard working, moral, educated, family oriented ordinary Americans, right?

And you want to know why it's hard for us to attract new industry to The Commonwealth?  Forget the cheap labor, CEO's and upper management of companies want to go to states where their children will get a good education and be exposed to the kind of people their parents think will help them develop into civic minded, contemplative, hard working, moral, educated, family oriented ordinary Americans.

Can you imagine a group of executives from Denver, Seattle, San Diego or any big city giving Kentucky serious consideration as a place to live if all they ever get to see is the drug world of "Justified" or maybe ending up with "Turtle Man" as a neighbor, or seeing nothing but "rednecks" and "drunks" and "hillbillies" in the media?

I've been saying this for a long time.  Kentucky needs a very strong, ambitious and clearly defined image makeover and this needs to be the focus of the next governor we elect. And no, it can't be "Kentucky Kicks Ass."  That is only funny in a few little pockets of people living south of Cincinnati and north of Nashville.

You Don't Know What Rich Is

I've alluded to this before, but there is a level of wealth in this world which is truly beyond the imagination of most of us.  In the made for TV special "The Bible" which aired its first episode last night, the Pharaoh brother of Moses was seen briefly.  And the extent of his wealth in his empire likewise was only seen briefly.

But one thing was clear, the wealth of an empire like that was accumulated on the backs of slaves.

Throughout history the wealthiest people in the world have been emperors, Pharaohs and kings.  They achieved their wealth by enslaving others.

The amount of wealth of Kings and kingdoms is incredible.  Warren Buffet doesn't come close.  Neither does GeorgE Soros, or Bill Gates.  And certainly you, if you make over $100,000 per year and consider yourself doing well as part of the top 10% of the people in the nation, are just a grain of sand compared to the vastness of the wealth of the world's true leaders.

Another great article on Jonathan Turley's blog might fascinate you even further if you have the time to read it.  Here's a taste:

The objective of the predatory super-rich and their political handmaidens is to discredit and destroy the traditional nation state and auction its resources to themselves. Those super-rich, in turn, aim to create a “tollbooth” economy, whereby more and more of our highways, bridges, libraries, parks, and beaches are possessed by private oligarchs who will extract a toll from the rest of us. Was this the vision of the Founders? Was this why they believed governments were instituted among men—that the very sinews of the state should be possessed by the wealthy in the same manner that kingdoms of the Old World were the personal property of the monarch?”

FULL STORY HERE